obama can let the tax cuts expire. my guess is he'll start talking immediately, maybe next week about proposing, you know, sustaining the tax cuts for everybody except the top 2% and he can let the tax cuts expire and do the same thing and then republicans will try to essentially block a tax cut for '98% and 99% of the american people and the only choice is how he chooses to approach the debt limit and obama would be a fool if he lets them use it the same way. my bet is if the white house faces the clinton option and the debt limit's unconstitutional and we're lifting it, if you don't like it, see you in court. >> how long, do you think, we're in early november. how long do you think this era of compromise and common ground will last? >> i think that any deal isn't going to happen until the last hours of december. so, and it's going to be a short term deal and i would bet that they are looking for a way to kick the can down the road again rather than taking up the big issues in the short period of time. >> in that sens